Daniel Felipe Martínez: the story of how he left football to practice cycling

The Colombian INEOS Grenadiers cyclist, Daniel Martínez, was crowned this Saturday the champion of the 61st edition of the Vuelta al País Vasco, where he won with authority after finishing in fourth place in the last stage of the competition, leaving his name engraved in the history of this race.

This achievement for the 25-year-old from Bogota is in addition to the triumph won in 2020 at the Critérium del Dauphiné and third place in March in Paris-Nice.

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Well, the beginnings of Daniel Felipe Martínez were not easy: he had to deal with poverty before he set out on the path to success that honeys enjoy today.

The athlete grew up between the municipalities of Soacha and Vergara (Cundinamarca), where he gave his first pedals, although he did not always dream of being a cyclist: his longing was to be a footballer, as his mother, Blanca Isabel Poveda, tells Noticias Caracol.

However, Daniel Martínez continued his dream of being a professional footballer, although his mother finally listened to him, who was not mistaken, since his son is one of the best runners in the country.

“Mommy, give me 1,000 pesos, what is all that money for? And he said to me: Sign me and give me that money and I'll tell you what it's for. Then, when he went and brought the letter, he told me, “Mommy, that money was for a club that you like so much; cycling.”

His father, Guillermo Martínez, also commented that in Daniel's first steps in cycling they didn't have enough resources to help him: “That was hard because he started in a circumstance where we didn't have the means to help him, help him.”

After the title in the Tour of the Basque Country, Daniel Martínez said he is waiting for his team's decision on his role in the Tour de France.

At the end of April Daniel Martínez will compete in Belgium in the classic Walloon Arrow, and then enlist for the Liege Bastogne Liege which will also take place in the European country.

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